The Best Resolution (Friday Devotional)

 

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

- 1 Timothy 1:5

How are your New Year’s resolutions going so far? Maybe after 5 days you’re on track for this to be the year that changes everything, the year you get organized, get in shape, and get that promotion you’ve been wanting. Then again, maybe by now you’ve already dismissed the dreams of New Year’s Day as flights of fancy; perhaps you’ve already resigned yourself to the same old, same old.

New Year’s resolutions, whether you take them seriously or roll your eyes at the very concept, are charges you give yourself, commands to shape up. When you make a personal resolution, you are instructing yourself about what your priorities need to be and making a plan to see that those priorities are kept straight. Simply put, when you make a resolution, you are determining what is important to you.

In the introduction of Paul’s first letter to his disciple and “true child in the faith” Timothy, he establishes what this young’s Christian resolution ought to be: love. But lest that simple command be misunderstood or misinterpreted, Paul goes so far as to explain the root of that love: “a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Paul wants to ensure that Timothy’s conduct as a Christian is worthy of the grace that saved him, that the love of God in Christ is exhibited in Timothy’s love for others. If you’re going to be a believer in Christ, Paul seems to be saying, then love must be important to you.

For you today, just as for Timothy in those days long ago, love stemming from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith is a resolution worth making in this new year. The Lord calls his people not just to receive his love, but to share it with others, to be beacons of light in a world so darkened by the destruction and despair of sin. It may be the sixth day of 2023, but it’s not too late—this year, resolve to love with the love of the Lord.